By Amaechi Agbo
Host community, Karshi, on Saturday emerged champions of the 2019 FOSLA FCT U-13 scholarship tournament held at the school premises in Karshi, Abuja.Karshi defeated hard fighting Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) team 1-0 in the final watched by dignitaries including former Nigeria Football Federation President and proprietor of FOSLA Academy, Alhaji Sani Lulu Abdulahi including coaches from within and outside the Federal Capital Territory.
To reach the final, Karshi defeated Kuje Area Council 14-13 via penalty while AMAC beat Kwali Area Council 2-1.Chukwu Wilfred of AMAC emerged the highest goal scorer with four goals as well as the Most Valuable Player of the tournament.
Addressing the pupils at the end of the championship, Principal of the academy, Mrs Josephine Ebhodaghe, commended the pupils for putting up a good fight in the tournament as well as the coaches for doing a diligent work in selecting the players.
She admonished the pupils to always exhibit discipline and good moral upbringing adding that even though not all of them would make it to the final selection, nevertheless, the academy was proud of their play.
“You have all displayed your football prowess and we are really proud of you all. We also want to appreciate the coaches who did thorough job to select you all for this tournament. We are indeed proud of you all. But I will not fail to advise you, as a mother, to always be disciplined and show good moral upbringing. You are all ambassadors your various homes, so remember not to dent the image of your family.
“As you all know, the scholarship is not just about football; in FOSLA Academy, we combine football and education so as to make you a complete individual. It is on this basis that another competition, this time, academic exercise, where we will test your academic ability, will come up next week. Unfortunately, all of you cannot be selected but some of you who were exceptional, be rest assured that the eagle eyes of our coaches picked you and we will reach your coaches on the date for your next test,” the principal said.
No few than 160 pupils selected across the six Area Councils in the Federal Capital Territory as well as Karshi and Keffi in Nasarawa State participated in the 2019 FOSLA U-13 FCT Scholarship Tournament 
The pupils who arrived the school premises in their various buses underwent screening as to ensure that the eight-team tournament had no age cheat.
FOSLA FCT U-13 Scholarship Tournament is a yearly championship played by pupils selected from the six Area Councils in the FCT – Abuja Municipal Area Council, AMAC, Bwari Area Council, Kwali, Gwagwalada, Kuje, Abaji, Karshi (host community) and new comers, Keffi (from Nasarawa State) all participated in this year’s tournament.FOSLA U-13 Championship is an annual scholarship programme of former Nigeria Football Federation, NFF president, Alhaji Sani Lulu Abdulahi which offers scholarship to the indigent pupils from the FCT.
The final pupils selected will go in for their secondary education in the school where they combine academics and football training.
The tournament holds in Kogi State and Abuja. The Kogi tournament was held on January 1st 2019 with over 25 pupils selected for the final competition.
Over 30 pupils who have been shortlisted after the event on Saturday will join the Kogi selected next week Saturday for another tournament and examination to determine the best among the pupils who will go for the scholarship starting from 2019/20 academic session.